[PRP] Conversation’s on the menu (Tass, Zel)

[Thaliawen]

Tassiel was finally well after that awful flu, and he was still getting used to being able to eat whatever he wanted. He’d gotten so tired of soup and the liquids the healers had provided, but anything more had been too heavy. Finally, he didn’t have to survive on tasteless broths.

He’d made his way to the dining hall, perhaps too eagerly. He felt like a starving hatchling, or at least, like Ionan must have when the teenager claimed he could eat a whole runner. Tassiel thought he could have, too. Maybe a whole wherry, a runner would be too large... He got a plate with tubers, some meat, and some bread before heading to a table. Not a whole wherry, but this was a good start.

He spotted another candidate at the table and gave her a smile. “Hello,” he greeted, sitting not quite across from her.

“Shinosbee”

 

[ShinosBee]

The flu hadn't been kind to Zelaya, but nor had it been overly bad. More like a cold...and honestly, she'd expected as much. Moving from the small, isolated Balen Hold to the bustling and jam-packed High Reaches Weyr...she'd been so nervous, that was obviously what'd gotten her sick. She'd felt better though. For a few days now, weeks even. The rest of the weyr was still slowly coming back to life, but it was...not bad, she'd felt, when it was a bit quieter. It was getting harder and harder to find quiet moments, but she'd been instructed to fit in, to make the most of her time here. That meant being social...so she today had taken a seat at one of the regular candidate tables, determined, and braced, to have some...social time.

It didn't take long. A young adult man...did he look familiar? She didn't think so, but who could ever remember the veritable sea of faces at High Reaches? He seemed friendly enough, leading with a greeting as he sat down...slightly scruffy looking, and lingering paleness provided clues that, perhaps, he'd been one of the infirm for a while, recently. That'd explain why he wasn't as familiar as some.

"Hello," she replied, having to push herself to bring her voice up above a whisper. It was just one person. She was determined to be more social. And by Faranth, she'd been raised to be polite, and that meant giving others her time if they wished it. Reminding herself of these things, she straightened slightly in her seat, extending a hand to him. "I'm Zelaya..."

Thaliawen

 

[Thaliawen]

She was certainly polite! Tassiel took her hand, but seemed unsure what to do with it before he shook it and released his hold. “Nice to meet you, Zelaya. I’m Tassiel.”

He looked to his plate, and then back to her. He didn’t want to appear rude and start stuffing his face. He took a bite and carefully chewed, them swallowed. “Were you at the last hatching?” He asked. “It was exciting, wasn’t it? I never expected a gold outside the Weyr to clutch!”  

[ShinosBee]

She shook his hand when at last he seemed to realize what to do about it, grasp cool and...not firm, but not weak. Just down the middle. "Tassiel, right." She managed a brief moment of eye contact, feeling somewhat relaxed by his consideration over leaping into his meal. That was a polite thing to do, and it eased her somewhat. If she just blocked out the still-barely-familiar halls over his shoulders, she could almost pretend she was home, in Balen's dining hall, meeting someone newly come to learn their trade, or a merchant, or just a visitor. She'd felt much more confident at Balen. She'd known where she stood there.

"Yes...though just to watch." She'd eventually taken to the sands at the request of one of the little bronzes, though she'd felt horrible after. She'd stood out to a distressing level, not even having been in a robe or sandals. Z'tir hadn't approved of that clutch, and she'd followed his lead, not quite understanding why it was such a bad thing to clutch out of a weyr beyond the obvious worries of tunnelsnakes and a lack of candidates. It'd all gone well in the end though, hadn't it? "It seemed...dangerous. No dragons to protect them from thread or tunnelsnakes...I think the gold should have gone to some weyr, even if only to have her clutch. Even a hold would have been better."

Thaliawen

 

[Thaliawen]

Oh, just to watch? Had it been her first hatching then? “Oh, I thought I might have recognized you if you’d been standing. You’re about my younger brother’s age. Do you know him? Ionan?”

“You’re probably right,” he agreed, “But the gold undoubtedly did the best she could. Maybe she didn’t have time to go to a Weyr or something. It was a good place to raise eggs, though! The sands were so hot my feet were burning through my sandals.”  

[ShinosBee]

"Ionan? No...I can't say that name is familiar, I'm sorry." She'd only just begun to make friends. Or rather, to learn the others' names. There were so many, though, and all so different from her. It had been a hard time opening up. "You are...both candidates then?" She'd heard of some weyr families making a tradition of it. She could respect that. Her family had...or had had, their own traditions too.

"It just seemed reckless, I suppose. Dangerous. Pern cannot afford to...lose that many dragonets." thankfully all had come out right in the end. But what if it hadn't? It probably wasn't a line of thought worth chasing, but she couldn't help it. They'd ll been so small and defenseless. If the gold was new to clutching, her older mate should have advised her. They had both fallen down on the job if you asked her father, and by extension, her. "It was very warm. I think I prefer it here in the north. I don't know how the people at Western keep cool at all." Another reason to only stand for High Reaches' own clutches, even if she wasn't already firmly wedded to the Weyr.

Thaliawen

 

[Thaliawen]

"I can introduce you to him, then," Tassiel gave her a smile. "Yeah. My older brother Impressed a green a while ago, and my sisters both Impressed too. I don't know what they'll do if I don't." He didn't know what he'd do, either. Could he join a craft so late? Would he be able to stand working with ten turn olds?

"Oh, yeah. It was lucky the dragons knew so fast! They're amazing." The way they communicated, it had been as if every dragon in the Weyr had known about the clutch as soon as it had started hatching. "We're lucky we got there in time." How did they stay cool, he wondered. He doubted it was easy. "I guess they must swim a lot?" he theorized. "Water's nice on a hot day."